Demonic Secrets

“We can go straight home if you want,” Mitch said, holding the lecture theatre door open for Nikola.

“It’s fine,” Nikola replied, pulling his hood up to cover his eyes. Mitch saw the glimmer of Faerie steel around his wrist and knew that it wasn’t. Nikola hadn’t been wearing that when they left home.

“Where are they?” Mitch asked.

“Off the coast,” Nikola replied. He pulled his hood a little lower as they stepped outside.

“We really can go home,” Mitch said.

“It’s fine,” Nikola flashed him a smile and lowered his head again, wincing. “It’s not as if I won’t be able to feel them at home anyway.”

“But you could close the curtains and lie down,” Mitch said, knowing that he’d lost this particular argument. They were already halfway to the Netherword. “They’re not going to cause a quake or anything are they?” he asked. A quake off the coast would probably cause a tsunami and a lot of the city had been built below sea level.

“I’ll be throwing up before it gets that bad,” Nikola said.

Mitch bit his lip, grimacing when he tasted blood. “And the seizures?” Nikola hadn’t had any yet this year but he’d definitely been worried about them while he was sick.

“Maybe,” Nikola said after a moment.

“I’d better keep an eye on you then,” Mitch said, giving him a quick one-armed hug. They reached the Nethergate and Nikola stood aside so that Mitch could open it with his medallion instead of opening it himself as he usually did.

They stepped inside and Nikola lowered his hood, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dim light.

“For someone who insists that he’s fine you look awfully pale and clammy,” Mitch said, struggling to pull out his insulated shopping bag. No matter how carefully he packed it always managed to get caught under his books.

“Just get your blood Mitchell,” Nikola smiled. “And maybe take notes for me in physics.”

“Of course,” Mitch replied. He hurried into the blood bank and returned to find Rana advancing on Nikola.

“Let’s go,” Mitch said, stepping between the two of them.

“You know I can lock that door right?” Rana asked. “I have a favour to ask of you.”

“No,” Mitch said automatically, noting the way her gaze was fixed on Nikola. “He’s sick.”

“If he was sick he wouldn’t be here just as he wasn’t the last two weeks.”

Mitch shivered, wondering just how closely Rana watched their movements. Nikola reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You don’t even know what I want,” Rana said. “Unless you do?” Nikola didn’t answer. “I’ll spell it out then, I need you to read the demon’s mind.”

“He can’t.”

“He can,” Rana replied, “I wasn’t sure at first but Awarewolves need that telepathic link to survive, particularly cubs.”

“Find another telepath,” Mitch snapped, he could feel Nikola’s hand shaking.

“I suppose I could request one from the Unseelie Court,” Rana said slowly. “They’ve been most helpful so far, and most curious as to how I subdued it in the first place.”

“You bitch,” Mitch snarled.

“It’ll be fine Mitch,” Nikola said.

Like hell it will, Mitch thought but what choice did they have? Even if Rana didn’t sell them out, a telepath would be able to learn whatever they wanted from her mind.

“I’ll need a few minutes to prepare,” Nikola said.

“Of course,” Rana beamed at them. “Follow me.” Mitch glared at her back and took Nikola’s hand. It was clammy and shaking.

Rana led them deeper into the Netherworld through a series of Nethergates and staircases and stopped outside a door that was pitch black.

“Tartarus is through there,” Rana said, “but you can prepare in here.” She opened a green door into a small waiting room that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a dentist’s office. Couch, coffee table and old magazines, there was even a tank of tropical fish in the corner. “If you need anything just press one,” Rana said, motioning to the phone by the door.

She left and Nikola sank onto one of the couches, shivering violently now that they were alone. Mitch dropped books and blood to the floor and sat next to him, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“She’s just going to keep doing this,” Mitch said as Nikola buried his face in his shoulder and started to cry. Rana had found her lever and nothing would make her stop now.

“I know,” Nikola whispered.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Stay with me.”

Mitch rubbed his back and sat in silence until Nikola stopped crying and sank back into the couch.

“Here,” Mitch said, pulling a packet of tissues out of his pocket and handing Nikola one. He wiped his eyes and blew his nose, though he still looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Telepathy is dangerous,” Nikola said after a moment. “Not just to the people that it’s used on but to… The demon is telepathic. I won’t be able to look into its mind without it looking into mine. It leaves behind an impression, a copy of the other’s mind. If we disengage properly then it’s fine, the impression fades but if we don’t…” his voice caught. “No matter what happens you can’t interrupt us,” he said. “No one can.”

“Nikola,” Mitch began but what could he say? They’d had this discussion before.

“And if something does?”

“Then remind me of who I am. I… I won’t be able to tell where my mind stops and the impression begins.”

Mitch swore.

“If that happens… call Gawain. He… he can talk me through it.”

He can drag you home, Mitch thought. It wasn’t what Nikola wanted, not like this, but he’d be safe in Faerie. Nikola sniffed and Mitch handed him another tissue.

“Is there anything else?” he asked. Nikola nodded and slipped his bracelet off, his face draining of colour as he regained his full sensitivity to magic.

“Your nose is bleeding,” Mitch said, offering him another tissue. And he was shaking again and he probably had a headache. Hell, he was probably on the verge of having a seizure. Mitch slid the bracelet back over his hand. Nikola gasped and blinked, finally taking the tissue and licking his lips as blood dripped of his chin.

“How was that supposed to help?” Mitch demanded sharply. Nikola flinched. “I’m sorry,” Mitch said, “I’m just worried.”

“I wanted… they’re getting closer,” Nikola said nasally, tissue still pressed to his nose.

“So naturally we’re stuck underground,” Mitch muttered. “It’s stopped,” he added when Nikola lowered the tissue.

“Good.” The tissue vanished, leaving spots of blood on Nikola’s hand, and another bracelet of Faerie steel appeared.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mitch asked, watching him slip it into place.

“No,” Nikola replied, “But I’d prefer to be done before the war arrives. All angels are telepathic and I don’t want to get tangled in their minds.”

“I wish we could just run away,” Mitch said, sinking into the couch next to him.

“You’d never be able to explain that to Amelie,” Nikola replied, resting his head on his shoulder.

Mitch sighed, “I signed us up for one of those student association dance classes. I don’t think she’d forgive me if I left her without a partner.” He put an arm around Nikola, running one hand through his hair.

“Guess we’re staying then,” Nikola said. He took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with.”

They returned to the corridor and found Rana waiting for them, one foot tapping impatiently.

“Ready?” Rana asked, opening the black door before they could reply. Mitch had been expecting some sort of medieval dungeon or perhaps a pit swirling with hellfire. Instead everything was sterile white and smelled faintly of antiseptic. The lights were harsh and bright. Mitch blinked repeatedly and then just used magic to protect his eyes. Nikola pulled his hood up over his eyes, seeming to shrink in on himself.

They moved deeper into Tartarus, the black door disappearing behind them. The fluorescent lights never becoming more bearable. Mitch supposed that it was a good a place as any to imprison demons and creatures that were supposed to be nocturnal. Or anything really. Nikola coughed and Mitch took his hand, watching him worriedly. Nikola drew closer and closer as they descended until Mitch was forced to release his hand and wrap an arm around his trembling body.

Finally they arrived in some sort of observation room and Nikola stopped dead. The room wasn’t empty. Inside sat what Mitch took to be a human magician and one of the Fae, both of them watching the demon through the glass wall.

“Which one of them is supposed to be your expert?” the Fae woman said, turning to look at them with cat-like eyes framed by locks of honey-coloured hair. Mitch gulped, she looked enough like Nikola to be his sister. She probably was.

“She is,” Nikola said telepathically.

“They are the ones who captured it,” Rana said. “Nikola believes that he’ll be able to extract more information from it.”

“One of Oberon’s spawn and a vampire,” the human woman said. Mitch relaxed slightly but the Fae tensed and Mitch wondered how closely they tracked Oberon’s children. “We’re supposed to believe that these pathetic creatures captured a demon?”

“I believe it,” the Fae said. “I’m sure Rana made them a very enticing offer.” She smiled at them and Mitch found the expression decidedly shark like.

“Hmpf,” the human turned back to the demon and resumed taking notes though Mitch couldn’t have said why. The demon’s emaciated frame was strapped to a table in the middle of the next room, held in place by bands of Faerie steel engraved with sigils. It was even thinner than Mitch remembered. Its skin stretched over a skeletal body, its ribs clearly visible through the loose clothes it had been dressed in.

“I need to be in there,” Nikola said softly, nodding towards where the demon was kept.

“Nikola,” Mitch looked at him and sighed. “I’m coming with you.”

“I think I shall come with you as well,” the Fae woman said. Rana opened her mouth to protest but the other woman was already gliding towards the door. “No need to come with us Rana, I can open the cell on my own.”

Nikola recoiled as she passed and Mitch steadied him before he could fall.

“Who is she?” he hissed.

“My name’s Verdandi,” she called over her shoulder.

“Go on,” Rana said, moving to stand beside the human woman. Together Mitch and Nikola followed Verdandi out into the corridor.

“I know you’re not Oberon’s,” she said as sigils flashed across the lock on the demon’s cell. “He’s only had one child in the last century and you’re not female. So whose are you I wonder?”

“Gawain,” Nikola said hoarsely.

“You mean my darling cousin actually managed to get it up for a woman? Well I suppose it has happened before.” She sighed and the door swung open. “Do try not to disappoint me,” she said, leading the way into a cell, “Gawain doesn’t take it well when I kill his half-blood spawn.”

“Ignore her,” Nikola said telepathically.

“She said–” Mitch thought furiously.

“I know but it’s not worth rising to the bait. She’s Clairvoyant, she’ll see you coming.”

“But Gawain–”

“It was more than five-hundred years ago, please Mitch, I need to focus.”

Mitch nodded reluctantly. Nikola coughed and stepped up to the gurney that the demon was strapped to, the beginnings of a rash already spreading across his hands. Verdandi watched eagerly from the demon’s other side.

“Don’t you already know how this will go?” Mitch snapped.

“Demons can’t be seen,” she said, “no more than angels can.” She frowned at Nikola, “you’re awfully hard to see as well.”

Nikola ignored her, his attention on the demon. Mitch wondered how it was still alive. It had to be consuming itself, there was no sign that it had been fed, there weren’t even needle marks where it might have been on a drip. Its wrists and ankles were adorned in dried blood and weeping sores where it had strained against its restraints. Its feet hung awkwardly, as if something was broken. Sigils had been tattooed across its body, the black ink visible through its clothes. It looked more demonic than ever. There were no locks on the restraints he noted, they’d been welded into place. The demon would never be free. Mitch couldn’t help but think that it would have been kinder to kill it.

The demon watched them with malevolent eyes and spoke in a language that Mitch couldn’t understand. It was probably cursing them.

“No interruptions remember,” Nikola said. He locked eyes with the demon and magic slowly saturated the air. Mitch shivered, he wouldn’t want anyone interrupting him while he was using that much magic. He didn’t think he could use that much magic. The demon thrashed and strained against its bonds, its cursing rising to an ear-splitting shriek. Nikola was breathing heavily, his face covered in sweat. Blood dripped from his nose.

Verdandi frowned at the spots of blood on the floor and then at the demon.

“Stop him,” she said.

“But–”

Nikola had taken a step towards the demon and he was shaking so badly that Mitch wasn’t sure how he was standing. Tentatively he put a hand on his shoulder; Nikola could deck him if he wanted to, but he barely seemed aware of the contact. Mitch stepped a little closer and wrapped his arms around him, holding him in place.

The room shattered, Mitch could think of no other way to describe it. Thousands of cracks spread across the walls and floors, the mirrored window broke, the ceiling fell and bounced off a telekinetic shield. The cracks in the walls deepened until they fell and Mitch could feel those in the floor doing the same.

“Nikola,” Mitch said. He’d said not to interrupt him but if he didn’t the floor giving way surely would. “Nikola.” Mitch shook him though he wasn’t sure Nikola felt it through his own shaking. Nikola blinked, looked at him with blank grey eyes and collapsed into a seizure.

Mitch swore and lowered him to the ground before he could hit his head only to have the ground rise up and met them as an earthquake struck. Mitch swore again, cursing the angels in every language he knew and a few that he didn’t. The floor creaked and cracked and Mitch was no longer sure if it was Nikola’s magic or the quake that was breaking it.

The shaking stopped and the seething magic settled into place. Nikola coughed and pushed himself up on shaking arms.

“Nikola,” Mitch said, helping him to sit up. “How are you?” Blood was still trickling from his nose and he didn’t seem to be able to stop shaking. He didn’t reply. “Come on Nikola, we need to go.”

“You can’t,” Verdandi said.

Mitch looked pointedly at the broken walls, noting that there was no sign of Rana or the research magician.

“His mind is still linked with the demon’s,” Verdandi said as Nikola staggered to his feet and approached the gurney. The demon was eerily quiet, its cursing having stopped when the quake started.

“Come on Nikola,” Mitch said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Get out of that thing’s head and let’s go.”

Nikola shrugged him off and put one hand on the strap pinning down the demon’s arm.

“Nikola?”

He pulled the strap away and tossed it aside. The demon didn’t move.

“What are you doing?”

He reached for another strap.

“It’s in control,” Verdandi said. “You should go, I’ll take care of this.”

Nikola’s head snapped up and he raised a hand. Verdandi screamed, blood seeping from dozens of cuts. Nikola’s hand slowly closed and Mitch swore that he could hear bones creak and crack.

“Nikola snap out of it,” he said, spinning his friend around and shaking him. “Come on Nikola, you’re stronger than this, you can beat this bloody monster.”

Nikola stared at him with blank grey eyes and then the ground heaved. They fell, Nikola sprawling across the floor with none of the grace and co-ordination that he usually showed. He pushed himself onto hands and knees and threw up. There was a crash as part of the floor finally caved in and one of the gurney’s legs fell through the hole. The demon’s hand flopped off the bed as it came to rest at a crazed angle.

“They’re coming,” Nikola rasped.

“Nikola?” His friend turned to look at him with wide, terrified eyes and Mitch sighed in relief. Nikola was in control again.

“You need to get that thing out of your head,” Mitch gasped, crawling across the shaking ground to him. On the other side of the gurney Verdandi was struggling to her feet, murder in her eyes.

Nikola lurched forward and clung to Mitch, burying his face in his shoulder.

“I’m trying,” he said, his voice raw. “But they’re coming, I can hear them. They’re coming, they’re coming…”

Mitch cursed and scrabbled at Nikola’s wrist, pulling off the bracelet that amplified his telepathy and tossing it aside. Nikola shuddered and slumped, still struggling to separate his mind from the demon’s.

“Come on Nikola,” he whispered. “Come on you can do it.”

Nikola froze. “Raphael.”

Mitch flinched and tried to drag them both across the floor. There was something else in the room with them. A vest sense of power that he hadn’t felt since the night that he’d become a vampire. He couldn’t become a vampire this time. This time that power would just crush him. For a second he thought he saw it, the outline of vast wings, every feather tipped with an eye, a body of inhuman perfection, a face that was flawless and utterly without emotion, a strange distortion where the light wasn’t.

The demon resumed its cursing, bucking and straining against its bonds, its free hand clawing at the sigils tattooed into its skin. Nikola coughed wetly and Mitch squeezed his eyes shut as the power around the angel coalesced.

“No,” yelled a familiar voice.

Mitch’s eyes snapped open. Hayley stood in the middle of the room, standing over the limp form of the demon. There were no new injuries save for the sluggishly bleeding cuts where it had clawed at the tattoos but Mitch was sure that it was dead.

“I’m not impressed,” Verdandi spat, somehow on her feet despite the continued shaking, her face twisted in agony. Mitch clutched at Nikola, now mercifully unconscious and braced for whatever the Fae was going to throw at them.

Hayley turned, blue eyes widening when she saw them.

“Mitch? What are you doing here?”

“Dying probably,” Mitch said, his attention still on Verdandi. Hayley followed his gaze and the Fae collapsed.

“They… they blackmailed him into trying to read the demon’s mind. What are you doing here?”

“Trying to stop Raphael. I failed.” She sighed, “I hope he didn’t. Nikola may be our best chance of finding the heart of the Twisted Curse.”

“Forget it,” Mitch snapped. “They probably won’t even let us out of here alive.” He wasn’t sure of the way out and even if he had been Tartarus wouldn’t be much of a prison if they could just walk out of it. Nikola coughed and Mitch gently lowered him to the fractured floor. Blood trickled from his open mouth and every piece of exposed skin was covered in an angry red rash.

“That at least I can accomplish,” Hayley said. They weren’t sitting in the depths of the Netherworld anymore. They were sprawled across the tent that Mitch used for his ice sculpting, their bags sitting by the entrance.

“I need to know where the heart of the Twisted Curse is,” Hayley said. “Ask him when he wakes up, I need to make sure the Host doesn’t find him.” She vanished.